The History of Painkillers

Painkillers include nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), of which there are several types, as well as opioids, also called narcotics. The types of NSAIDs are called by various names, one grouping being conventional NSAIDs, semi-selective NSAIDs and COX-2 (selective) NSAIDs. But the Food and Drug Administration only reports selective and non-selective categories. Sometimes referred to as super aspirins, the COX-2 inhibitors don’t cause the stomach problems associated with aspirin, and can be given in higher doses.

Painkillers are usually developed and marketed by pharmaceutical companies for general or specific healthcare applications. They are divided in the industry by whether they are available over the counter (OTC) or require a prescription. Both categories of drugs can be abused.

Drugs or substances that are not sold OTC are divided into five schedules, labeled with Roman numerals. Schedule I is for drugs for which there is no currently acceptable medical usage in the U.S. It includes, for example, heroin, LSD, and marijuana. For Schedules II-V, all drugs with medical use, the least restricted is Schedule V, which includes medications like cough medicines with codeine; the most restrictive is Schedule II, which includes morphine, cocaine, and methadone.

Here are some of the familiar brands of painkillers, including NSAIDs and opiates. There are many OTC preparations that include the non-selective NSAIDS ibuprofin. Also, there are a group of medicines used to treat more severe pain that combines NSAIDs and opioids. Combinations are not included in the chart.

Salicin from powdered willow bark was used as early as the 4th-5th century B.C. by the Greek physician Hippocrates. A form of it, sodium salicylate, was still being used in the nineteenth century when a German chemist, Felix Hoffman, wanted to modify the substance to ease the stomach pain his arthritic father had when taking sodium salicylate. In 1897, he created acetylsalicylic acid • aspirin.

Acetaminophen

In nineteenth century France, a pain reliever, phenacetin, which was discovered to have fever-reducing properties, was used. In 1899, German scientist Karl Morner discovered that the body metabolizes phenacetin to make acetaminophen, which turned out to be safer. McNeil Laboratories first marketed acetaminophen in 1953.

NSAIDs and COX-2 Selective NSAIDs

In the 1960s, indomethacin, the first NSAID, was discovered by Professor Tsung-Ying Shen. The COX-2 inhibitors were discovered in 1991 by W. L. Xie and colleagues, and the products Celebrex and Vioxx came to market in 1998-1999.

Grown as early as 3400 B.C., opium was cultivated by the Sumerians, Assyrians, Babylonians, and Egyptians. Opium was used as a narcotic by Hippocrates, introduced to Persia and India by Alexander the Great, and used as a painkillers by Paracelsus during the Renaissance. In 1803, German Friedrich Sertuerner discoverd morphine, and in 1843, a Scottish doctor, Dr. Alexander Wood, first administered it by injection with a syringe.Heroin was first synthesized in 1874, by an English scientist, C. R. Wright, and first sold by The Bayer Company in 1898.